E3 Saxo Classic 2024 (spoilers of course)
 

That was a fun race to watch. Feel a bit cheated to be denied a straight up Wout v. Mathieu showdown. Wout seems to have a touch of bad luck, flats, a crash... Anyway, a nice primer for the upcoming week. The big guns seem ready to go. Great to see Jorgensen on good form too. He seemed to follow Vanderpoel with relative ease a time or two when others were clearly on their limit. More good things to come for him.

It was a very good start for the racing in Flanders. Looking forward to the next several weeks.

Definitely not a spoiler: When he's not on the top step, Mads Pedersen is a dick.

What did I miss?

Do tell :banana:

Mads isn't as nice an interview as others. Stuyven was asked about Mads as well and said he was fine. Tempting to think there's discord in the team, but probably just Mads being Mads.

https://youtu.be/AVZA2QZjo78?si=Ams-6qHwZRtOEehx

Nothing much, he’s just a bit of a cranky-pants and doesn’t interview well.

No idea if he’s like that all the time, or just with the media. If that’s his normal state, then, yeah, he’s a bit of a dick and probably hard to get along with.

Regardless, the big Classics names all look on form, should be some good racing coming up.

MvdP’s late start to the season doesn’t seem to be an issue - working for Jasper last weekend and a solo win today. That big honking contract must be good for his mental game.

Pretty good interview (media stunt, not E3)…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CzEYSa...themeRefresh=1

Well, he didn't kill a cat with a BB gun. So there's that.

Ha......still trying to piece together myself why so many are quick to call him a prick if they're going on just that interview alone.

Classics contender underperforms* and finishes off podium in semi-classic, politely declines roadside interview in the rain in race kit a week before main season objective.

As someone who has followed Pedersen and hopes he can compete with MvdP and WvA at Flanders and Roubaix the less I hear from him in that situation the better.

*or rides aggressive race as an intensive training session.

No opinion on whether or not Pedersen is a jerk, but one thing I'd be watching is Stuyven seems to be in great form right now--possibly better than Pedersen, so I wonder if there will be some tension in the team in Flanders or Roubaix if they get into a position where one of them has to work for the other.

Well, the only thing people like us have to go on is how a rider presents him or herself when addressing the public. I think I’ve heard commentary on the Cycling Podcast to the effect that Mads is a terrible interview. I like him as a rider, and the 60sec end of race interview isn’t everything, but it’s not nothing.

Anyway, Mads finished 4th on his own team today. Stuyven 2nd, Skujins 8th, Kirsch 10th. Objectively, Mads isn’t going to be happy with that.

Those two are like peanut butter and jelly and know how to race stronger together. I wouldn't start extrapolating too much from this situation.

Mads a bad interview? He's often honest, blunt, and funny, and doesn't offer a lot of the canned cliches that almost everyone else relies on to avoid saying anything of substance. I think he's a great interview.